Over 50 police officers were called to Mall St. Matthews in Louisville, Kentucky, to break up a brawl involving nearly 2,000 teens. “Businesses were in the process of closing their doors, steel grates, and you had juveniles that were not allowing businesses to close up—[they were] climbing on the grates,” said police spokesperson Officer Dennis McDonald. “This was a riot. It was crazy.”

Police began receiving reports of disturbances at the mall around 7 p.m. on December 26.

“As they were responding to those disturbances, others were breaking out... Disturbances started to feed on themselves.” McDonald said. “They were just overwhelmed with a number of calls for service and reports of disorder.”

The officers on duty at the mall called for backup, and 50 officers from five different agencies responded, according to police.

“It was a series of brawls” involving 1,000 to 2,000 people ages 13 to their early 20s, McDonald said, adding that “the entire mall” was affected.

About 8 p.m., authorities started to advise stores in the mall to close their doors, but those involved in the brawls were refusing to leave.

(Emphasis ours.)

Fox-41 reporter Toni Konz tweeted a shaky and brief cellphone video (found via Racked) taken by a “local teen” inside Mall St. Matthews during the melee:

The chaos was ultimately subdued and officers remained on the scene until 1 a.m. No one was seriously injured and no arrests have been made. The resulting number of adults harmed by moral panic is still to be determined.